He made the comment in an interview in L'Osservatore Romano about a new version of the Vatican's document on priestly formation, "The Gift of Priestly Vocation / Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis", which was released last Wednesday.

"To be a good priest, in addition to having passed all the exams, a demonstrated human, spiritual and pastoral maturation is necessary," he said.

In the interview Stella identified 3 key words, humanity spirituality and discernment

Humanity
He said he could not sufficiently insist upon the need that seminarians be accompanied through a growth process which will, in the end, help them become "persons who are humanly balanced, serene and stable."

"Only in this way will it be possible to have priests with friendly traits, who are authentic, loyal, interiorly free, affectively stable, capable of weaving together peaceful interpersonal relationships and living the evangelical counsels without rigidity, hypocrisy or loopholes."

Spirituality
Stella insisted that the priest is not "a man of action, a leader, religious organiser, or a functionary of the sacred."

"Instead he is a disciple passionately in love with the Lord, whose life and whose ministry are founded on this intimate relationship with God and upon his configuration to Christ the Good Shepherd."

He said it is only by cultivating his spiritual life with discipline and expressly dedicated time that the "old sacral and bureaucratic views of ministry can be surpassed."

"So that we may have priests passionately motivated by the Gospel, capable of 'feeling with the Church' and being, like Jesus, compassionate and merciful 'Samaritans.'"

Discernment
Stella said he is noticing a lack of discernment in the formation of priests.

"We are risking, in fact, becoming accustomed to 'black and white' and to that which is legal," he said. " We are quite closed, by and large, to discernment"

"One thing is clear, today in a certain quantity of seminaries, a rigidity has been re- established which is not related to situational discernment."

The issue of homosexuality and the priesthood.
The media coverage to what The Gift of Priestly Vocation have generally confined their coverage to what the document says about homosexuality.

In many case they have collapsed a nuanced approach to bald statement that homosexuals cannot become priests.

The Gift of the Priestly Vocation quotes from the Congregation for Catholic Education's 2005 instruction on the matter, in saying that "the Church … cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.'"

It distinguishes such cases from those in which homosexual tendencies "were only the expression of a transitory problem" and states that "it must be remembered that, in a relationship of sincere dialogue and mutual trust, the seminarian is obliged to reveal to his formators … doubts or difficulties he should have in this regard."

In 2005 Timothy Dolan, former rector of the North American College in Rome and now the Archbishop of New York told Catholic News Service that a gay man who exhibits none of the criteria opposed by the Vatican document and feels he may have a priestly vocation "shouldn't be discouraged" from becoming a seminarian.

Since the 2005 many seminaries and programmes of formation in religious orders have interpreted its language to exclude only candidates incapable of celibacy or deeply committed to gay-rights activism, as opposed to a blanket ban on all gay candidates.

The document appears to provide a sound basis for this interpretation:

"The candidate to the ordained ministry, therefore, must reach affective maturity. Such maturity will allow him to relate correctly to both men and women, developing in him a true sense of spiritual fatherhood towards the Church community that will be entrusted to him"

Just as the 2005 document was approved by Benedict XVI, the one released this week was approved by Pope Francis.

However, in neither case were the documents signed by the Pope, but by the heads of the Vatican department behind it.

Source

• clerus.va
• ncregister.com
• cruxnow.com
• Image: media.npr.org

This was a demand that demonstrates the "hypocritical heart" of those people, Pope Francis said.

They were people who were not interested in the truth, who sought only their own interests, and went where the wind blew: ..." They were weathervanes, all of them! All of them! Without consistency. A heart without consistency."

"And so they negotiated everything: they negotiated interior freedom, they negotiated the faith, they negotiated their country, everything except appearances.

"To such people, getting the best out of every situation was the important thing.

"They were opportunists: "They profited from the situations."

Pope Francis continued: "..and yet, some of you might ask me: 'But Father, these people were observers of the law: on Saturday they didn't travel more than a hundred metres - or however many they were able to go - they never, never sat down to eat without washing their hands and making their ablutions; they were a very observant people, very secure in their habits.'

"Yes, it's true - but only in appearance.

"They were strong, but on the outside. They were in a cast.

"The heart was very week, they didn't know what they believed.

"And because of this their life, the outer part of their life, was completely regulated, but the heart was otherwise: a weak heart, and a skin that was plastered over, strong, harsh.

"Jesus, on the other hand, teaches us that the Christian should have a strong heart, a firm heart, a heart built on the rock, that is Christ; and then, in the way it goes out, it goes out with prudence:

"'In this case, I do this, but...' It is the way of going out, but the heart is not negotiable, the rock is not negotiable. The rock is Christ, it is not negotiable.

"This is the drama of the hypocrisy of this people. And Jesus never negotiates His heart of the Son of the Father, but He was so open to the people, seeking paths to help them.

"'But this can't be done; our discipline, our doctrine say this can't be done!' they say.

"'Why do your disciples eat grain in the fields, when they travel, on the day of the Sabbath? It can't be done!' They were so rigid in their discipline: 'No, the discipline can't be touched, it's sacred.'" Continue reading